


Daleks, in Manhattan, Evolving

by l-ouresdeLuna (facemyJam)



Series: Rose Stays [4]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode: s03e04 Daleks in Manhattan, Episode: s03e05 Evolution of the Daleks, F/M, Gen, Post-Episode AU: s02e13 Doomsday, this is basically a two in one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-06 03:21:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11591865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/facemyJam/pseuds/l-ouresdeLuna
Summary: The last thing Martha wants to see after being kidnapped, is bloody New York again. But it's just her luck that's where they land. And what's Hooverville anyway?Part Four of Rose Stays





	1. New New Direction

**Author's Note:**

> So, I didn't want to do every single episode, because that could get tiring after a while, for the both of us. Instead, I've just done the ones that didn't have complicated Doctor bits ( but i left this one because, like, i wanted to rewrite the episodes to where, hopefully, they weren't as boring as the cannon ones ) but let's just assume Rose and Martha work together to free the people on New Earth.

Rose sighs as she eases into the tub. Car jumping was not something she ever wanted to do again. She had found Martha in the end, but the harsh landings and the smog had really done a number on her. Not to mention the Face of Boe’s cryptic message  _ “You are not alone.”  _ gruffed out in her head was ominous and made her feel the opposite of safe. It sounded like a threat; it sounded like Bad Wolf all over again. And as much as she’d like to take her time and stay until the water turned cold, her stomach won out. Soon, she’s pulling her blue leather jacket over a long sleeved shirt and walking out of her room.

 

She knocks on Martha’s door to see if she was in there. “Coming!” Martha shouts, her voice muffled by the door. Rose steps back as the door opens and smiles in greeting.

 

“Fancy some chips?” Rose asks her. Martha squints her eyes at her in anger.

 

“As long as I don’t get kidnapped along the way,” she says with a teasing anger.

 

“Oh, you’ve been kidnapped  _ once _ !” Rose says in a laughing manner. “Tell me how you feel after the fifteenth!”

 

“You’ve been kidnapped  _ fifteen times _ ?” Martha asks incredulously as they make their way to the console room.

 

“There’s even a card I carry that I punch every time I get taken,” Rose tells her in a serious tone.

 

“If that’s an actual real thing, count me out. Once was enough for me.” Martha shudders as they enter the console room, a grimace on her face.

 

“As far as firsts go, though, yours was probably the best way to go about it,” Rose tells her as she swirls around the console.

 

“There’s no best way to get kidnapped,” Martha snaps at her as she sits on the jump seat.

 

“Oh, tha’s true. I wasn’t saying there was, well, I guess I kinda was. But what I  _ meant _ , was that, it could’ve been worse.” She ticks her head to the side as she thinks on it. “Not that that’s any consolation.”

 

“You’re damn right it’s not,” Martha mutters. Those people had her eating wafers made from their own waste! And the worst part? They had tasted pretty okay to her! Blech!

 

“So, chips,” Rose says as a way to change the subject. Martha smiles at her, marvelling at how strong she was. Her whole family was gone, she was alone, and she could still smile. Martha would’ve been a right mess, more than actually, had she lost her entire family.

 

“I don’t feel like going home just yet, though,” Martha tells her. Rose shoots her a dazzling grin.

 

“Who says the best chips are in your time?” She bounces around the console as she hits switches and buttons. “Next stop, who knows!” she shouts slamming down on the last button. The TARDIS shakes and Martha has to throw her hand back to hook on the railing behind her to stay in place. It seemed every time they went somewhere the ride got bumpier.

 

\--

 

“It’s nearly showtime, Laszlo,” Tallulah says to her boyfriend. “I’ve got to go.”

 

“Just promise me you’ll come on Sunday, okay?” He asks her holding onto her hand. “My mother will kill me if she doesn’t get to meet you.”

 

“What if she doesn’t like me?” Tallulah asks with her head down. Laszlo squeezes her hand.

 

“Tallulah, she’ll love you just as much as I do.” She smiles at him and runs a hand down his chest.

 

“You say the sweetest things.”

 

“It’s true,” he tells her squeezing her hand one more time. “Now, promise me, Sunday you’ll come.” He looks at her searchingly. Tallulah nods.

 

“I promise. Cross my heart,” she tells him doing the motion with her free hand.

 

“Oh, here,” he says as she turns to go. “Take this, Sweetheart.” He hands her a white rose. “Wear it on stage and think of me.” Tallulah breathes in the gentle scent of the rose before pinning it on her dress.

 

“Tallulah!” another showgirl yells from the hallway.

 

“I’m coming! Quit yelling!” Tallulah shouts back before turning back to Laszlo. “How do I look?” she asks running her hands down her sides to smooth down her dress.

 

“Like an angel,” he sighs out, his eyes full of love. Tallulah gives him a big smile, blows him a kiss and then races out of the dressing room. 

 

“Wish me luck, Laszlo!” She yells behind her.

 

“Break a leg, Sweetheart,” Laszlo tells her even though she can no longer hear him. He’s turning to head through another door in the dressing room when something flashes out of the corner of his eye. “Tallulah?” he asks as he goes to get a better look at what he saw.

 

\--

 

“Martha, would ya like to meet a friend of mine?” Rose asks with a dramatic swoop of her arms. They had just landed on some island and were trying to see where they were. Martha turns and sees the Statue of Liberty.

 

“Oh, not bloody New York again!” Martha shouts throwing her hands up in exasperation. Despite feeling awe as she looked up at the statue, she was not looking forward to being in yet another New York City. “You know, I’ve always wanted to come here, and now you’ve gone and ruined it!” She pouts crossing her arms and feeling like a toddler throwing a fit.

 

“How many times do I have to apologise about getting you kidnapped?” Rose sighs out, equally as exasperated. They both cut each other a look before grinning and laughing, falling over themselves as they do so.

 

“Oh, buy me some chips and we’ll be golden,” Martha says a while later as they walk towards the ferry dock.

 

“I wonder what year it is,” Rose muses and Martha looks over at the mainland.

 

“Look, the Empire State Building isn’t even finished yet.”

 

“It’s always amazing to see history unfold before you,” Rose says as she looks at the city skyline.

 

“November 1st, 1930,” Martha states knowingly and Rose starts from her staring.

 

“You’re getting good at this,” she tells Martha before seeing her with a newspaper in her hand. “You’re getting  _ really _ good at this.” She gives her a grin and goes over to look at the paper from over her shoulder.

 

Martha gives her a small shrug with a smile. “Eighty years ago,” she says as she looks over at the Empire State Building. “It’s funny, because you see all those old newsreels all in black and white like it’s so far away, but here we are. It’s real. It’s now.” They board the ferry and lean over the railing to watch the skyline go past.

 

“I think our run for chips just got a bit longer,” Rose says as she tilts the front page so Martha can see it.

 

“Hooverville Mystery Deepens,” Martha reads off the headline. “What’s Hooverville?”

 

\--

 

They walk into Central Park and Martha marvels at how she’s really here. She had always wanted to go to New York, the  _ real _ New York, not the New New New one. And now, here she was, but eighty years in the past.

 

“Wait, 1930. Wall Street crashed just last year,” Martha says as she looks at the newspaper again.

 

“Thousands of people out of job and home,” Rose states quietly as she looks upon the encampment in the middle of the park. “They came here when there was no place else.”

 

“What, they actually live in the park? In the middle of the city?” Martha asks incredulously. Rose grimaces.

 

“They were kicked out of their own homes because they lost their jobs. Where else are they supposed to go?” Rose asks her tone suggesting more than sympathy. Martha wonders if Rose had been kicked out of her own home before.

 

“You thieving lowlife!” A voice rings out calling attention to the two men standing in the row Rose and Martha were walking down.

 

“For a single loaf of bread!” the same man shouts as he charges the other he’s accusing of being a thieving lowlife.

 

“I didn’t touch it!” the Thieving Lowlife shouts back as he ducks a punch.

 

“Somebody stole it!” the other shouts back.

 

“Cut that out! Cut that out right now!” Another voice shouts. Martha guesses he’s the man in charge. The man the voice belongs to jumps in between the two fighting and pushes them away from each other.

 

“He stole my bread!” The first man shouts pointing at the man he’s accusing.

 

“That’s enough!” the man in charge says. “Did you take it?”

 

“I don’t know what happened. He just went crazy!” the Thieving Lowlife says instead of answering the question.

 

“That’s enough!” the man in charge says again. “Now, think real careful before you lie to me.”

 

“I’m starving, Solomon,” the Thieving Lowlife tells him in a desperate voice. Solomon just holds out his hand and the man takes out a loaf of bread from his coat.

 

“We’re all starving,” Solomon tells the man. “We all got families somewhere.” He takes the loaf and breaks it in half and gives the halves to each man. “No stealing and no fighting. You know the rules. Thirteen years ago I fought in the Great War. A lot of us did. And the only reason we got through was because we stuck together. No matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It’s all we got.” Martha smiles at his words. She could see why he was put in charge.

 

“You in charge?” Rose asks redundantly as her and Martha walk closer to Solomon.

 

“And who might you be?” Solomon asks them back.

 

“She’s Dame Rose and I’m Martha,” Martha says adding Rose’s title because she thinks it’s cool that she’s an actual Dame. If Martha were knighted by the Queen, she would use her title all the time.

 

“Ain’t you both dame’s?” he asks confusedly.

 

“If I were knighted by the Queen, I think I’d remember,” Martha tells him not getting his question. Solomon tilts his head back as it clicks. Dame meant two very different things to the three of them. Rose tries not to smile at the miscommunication.

 

“A Dame, huh? Well, we got stockbrokers, we got lawyers, but you’re the first Dame. Neighborhood gets classier by the day,” Solomon says a minute later as if he hadn’t been confused in the first place.

 

“How many people live here?” Martha asks him looking around at all the tents and boxes.

 

“At any one time, hundreds,” Solomon tells her as they go over to his tent. “No place else to go. But I will say this about Hooverville. We are a truly equal society. Black, white, all the same. All starving. So, you’re welcome, both of you. But tell me, Dame, you look like a woman of learning. Explain this to me. That there’s going to be the tallest building in the world,” Solomon says pointing to the Empire State Building. “How come they can do that, when we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan?”

 

Rose looks back over the encampment. “There are lengths we go to,” she says in solemn tone. “When we want to ignore something. There are people starving all over the world, but we keep our heads down and keep on walking. We say ‘oh, that has nothing to do with me’ and just pretend we don’t see what’s there in the corner of our eyes. We stay on track and hope we don’t end up in our own Hooverville.”

 

\--

 

“I’m telling you, the men won’t stand for these conditions,” the foreman tells a man in a suit. “I mean, are you out of your mind? I got five hundred men working seven days a week. They’re flat out, and you want us to go faster?”

 

“I don’t  _ want _ anything. I  _ demand _ that you go faster,” the man in the suit says with a sneer on his face.

 

“But we’re on schedule,” the foreman tells him. “What’s the problem? Another month and we’ll be done.”

 

“The mast on the building needs extra work completed by tonight.”

 

“Tonight? Now way. It’s impossible.”

 

“That’s an order,” the man in the suit commands.

 

“Yeah?” the foreman challenges. “Well, one word from me and every man on this site stops working. So go on. Order me again.”

 

“If that’s your attitude, maybe we should take this in another direction,” the man says calmly.

 

“Yeah? Well, I ain’t afraid of no man in a suit,” the foreman says right back puffing out his chest.

 

“Oh, but you should be,” the man tells him with a cruel smile on his face.

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” the foreman asks as he backs away from the man. “Mr. Diagoras, what’s that supposed to mean?” He leans on his back foot, but there is no floor there anymore. He’s at the edge of the building.

 

“I’m afraid it means you won’t like the new direction you’re going in,” Mr. Diagoras says before pushing the foreman off the building.

 

\--

 

“So, men are going missing?” Rose asks Solomon. They are sat in his tent, which is cozy for it being outdoors and muddy. Martha can’t even smell any dirty clothes or body odor.

 

“Yeah,” Solomon sighs.

 

“But what does missing mean? Men must come and go here all the time,” Martha asks.

 

“This is different,” Solomon tells her waving his hand.

 

“In what way?”

 

“Someone takes them, at night. We hear something, someone calls out for help. By the time we get there, they’re gone like they vanished into thin air.”

 

“Are you sure they’re not just leaving?” Rose asks gently.

 

“Look, when you’ve got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you got. Your knife, blanket, you take it with you. You don’t leave bread uneaten fire still burning,” Solomon says as he looks over the camp.

 

“Have you been to the police?” Martha asks. Rose snorts.

 

“To them, this lot going missing is none of their concern. Used to happen on the Estates all the time. They just say someone just ran away from home and left it at that,” she tells Martha. “Cops don’t care about poor kids.”

 

“I thought you was a Dame,” Solomon says confusedly. Had he gotten the meaning of the word wrong?

 

“I am,” Rose confirms sitting up straighter in her chair. “That doesn’t mean I haven’t also lived my life.”

 

“Solomon!” a voice shouts and the sound of running feet draws nearer. “Solomon, Mr. Diagoras is here,” a young man says out of breath in the opening of Solomon’s tent.

 

“I need men. Volunteers,” Mr. Diagoras shouts at the crowd before him. He’s on top of some wood pilings and looks like he’s preaching to the masses. “I’ve got a little work for you and you sure look like you could use the money.” Rose, Martha, and Solomon join the back of the crowd.

 

“Yeah. What is the money?” the young man who warned Solomon about Mr. Diagoras’ arrival asks.

 

“A dollar a day,” Mr. Diagoras answers. Martha is in shock. So little money for working all day? Not even the simplest jobs in her time would offer a dollar an  _ hour _ !

 

“What’s the work?” Solomon asks.

 

“A little trip down to the sewers. Got a tunnel collapsed needs cleaning and fixing. Any takers?”

 

“A dollar a day for that? That’s slave wage! And men don’t always come back up, do they?” Solomon asks the man.

 

“Accidents happen,” Mr. Diagoras states with a shrug of his shoulders.

 

“What do you mean? What sort of accidents?” Rose asks angrily. How could a man be so cavalier about men going missing when he’s hiring them for work?

 

“I don’t answer to little girls,” Mr. Diagoras sneers. “Do I have any takers?” Rose raises her hand. “Enough with the questions!”

 

“But I want to volunteer,” Rose says sweetly.

 

“I said I needed  _ men _ ,” Mr. Diagoras sneers at her.

 

“Are any jumping at the bit to work for ya?” Rose taunts right back. Mr. Diagoras reluctantly nods at her and looks to the crowd for more volunteers.

 

“I’ll kill you for this,” Martha mutters at Rose before raising her own hand. Solomon and the young man next to him also raise theirs.

 

\--

 

“Turn left,” Mr. Diagoras says from above them. “Go about half a mile. Follow tunnel two seven three. Fall’s right ahead of you, you can’t miss it.”

 

“And when do we get our dollar?” Frank asks the man.

 

“When you come back up.”

 

“And if we don’t come back up?” Martha asks thinking about all those missing people.

 

“Then I got no one to pay,” Mr. Diagoras says simply.

 

“Don’t worry, we’ll be back,” Solomon tells the guy as the manhole cover slips back into place. Martha tries not to feel like she’s going to die down here.

 

“Let’s hope so,” she mutters. They walk in the direction Diagoras told them to take and Martha’s just glad there’s no sewer smell. 

 

“We just got to stick together,” Frank says cheerily. “It’s easy to get lost. It’s like a huge rabbit warren. You could hide an army in here.”  _ That’s creepy information to have _ , Martha thinks before shaking it off. Frank’s a nice enough bloke. 

 

“So, what about you Frank? You’re not from around these parts, are you?” Martha asks talking about his accent.

 

“Oh, you could talk,” Frank shoots back with a smile on his face before shaking his head. “No, I’m Tennessee born and bred.”

 

“So, how come you’re here?” Rose asks as her and Solomon wait for Martha and Frank to catch up to them.

 

“Oh, my daddy died,” Frank explains with just a hint of sadness. “Mama couldn’t afford to feed us all. So, I’m the oldest, up to me to feed myself. So, I put on my coat, hitched up here on the railroads. There’s a whole lot of runaways in the camp, younger than me, from all over. Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas. Solomon keeps a lookout for us.” He smiles gratefully at Solomon, who waves it off. “So, what about you? You’re a long way from home.”

 

“Yeah,” Martha agrees. “I’m just a hitcher, too.” She looks over at Rose. Rose lets out a put upon sigh.

 

“I used to be one, too, y’know?” She reminds Martha. “But now I gotta put up with her back  _ back _ seat driving.” The other three frown.

 

“How do I back back seat drive? Are you saying you don’t drive?” Martha ask her incredulously.

 

Rose shrugs. “I jus’ push the buttons,” she tells Martha and Martha shakes her head. Even with all they have shared over the past couple of days, Rose was still a mystery. Martha was reminded of what Shakespeare said about her, and how he mistook her for an alien.

 

“You two say the strangest things,” Solomon tells them with a shake of his head. Rose smiles brightly at him.

 

“So, who’s this Diagoras bloke, anyways? What makes him such a big shot?” Rose asks a couple of minutes later as they resume walking into the tunnels.

 

“A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman. Now, it seems like he’s running most of Manhattan,” Solomon replies a bitter edge to his voice.

 

“How’d he manage that?” Martha asks as she skirts around a sewage puddle.

 

“These are strange times,” Solomon told them. “A man can go from being King of the Hill to the lowest of the low overnight. It’s just, for some folks, it works the other way around.” Rose hums in agreement and is about to take another step when Martha grabs her arm.

 

“Wha-”

 

“Look,” Martha interrupts pointing at something on the ground.

 

“What is that?” Rose asks crouching down and shining her torch at the gelatinous blob on the ground. It reminded her of a jellyfish, one that was a sickly green colour.

 

“Is it radioactive or something?” Martha asks. “It’s gone off, whatever it is.” She puts a hand to her nose, though to Rose it smells only of sewer in here still. “And you’ve got to pick it up.”

 

Rose pulls out a pen and pokes it to pull up some of the jellyfish blob. “Hey, can you shine your torch through it?” she asks when she sees something. Martha moves to angle her torch so the light hits the blob and the blob shines up. “Martha? Medical opinion?”

 

“It’s not human, I know that,” Martha says through her hand. 

 

“Well, I coulda said that,” Rose says flicking the blob off her pen. Martha just shrugs. Rose huffs a laugh and stands back up to look around. “We’re about half a mile in by now, right?” Rose asks as she spins on her heel to look around her. “Yet there’s no sign of a collapse. So, why did Mr. Diagoras send us down here?”

 

Solomon starts at that and shines his torch around, too. “Where are we now? What’s above us?” he asks.

 

\--

 

“And here, the crowning glory of the Empire State Building, the mast itself,” Mr. Diagoras says as he shows the foreman around. “One thousand four hundred and seventy two feet above New York.”

 

“It’s a beautiful thing, sir, and every single one of us is proud of it. My wife says it’s like a- like a spire reaching into Heaven,” the new foreman says in awe as he looks at all the work being done.

 

“Except the Gates of Heaven need a little decoration. These plates have got to be fixed to the mast, right to the base itself,” Mr. Diagoras tells the man as he waves a hand at where the strange metal plates are stacked.

 

“That’s okay. It’s not too bad. Shouldn’t take too long,” the new foreman responds with a smile.

 

“But the work has got to be finished tonight,” Mr. Diagoras tells him gruffly. Several other construction workers shout in protest.

 

“What, are you trying to kill us? We’re flat out up here! Come on!” The new foreman complains.

 

“Don’t argue with me!” Mr. Diagoras shouts back, his face pinking in rage.

 

“But, sir,” the foreman pleads. “Men can’t work up there at night. It’s freezing. Your hands go numb, you lose your grip, you fall.” Mr. Diagoras gives him a cold look.

 

“You don’t get it,” he tells the man coldly. “If you won’t work I can replace you like that!” he says with a snap of his fingers. “Now, take those panels and get going.” The construction workers mutter complaints under their breaths as they struggle to pick up the metal panels.

 

“What sort of metal is this anyway?” one construction worker asks as he examines the panel in his arms.

 

“Don’t ask questions, just go,” Mr. Diagoras tells him harshly waving the man away before rubbing his brow. All their inane questions and backtalk gave him a headache. “And I don’t care how cold it is, how tired you are. Just get out there and finish the job!” he shouts after them to set them on a quicker pace.

 

A few moments later, the elevator opens up to reveal a Dalek. It glides out of the elevator and heads straight to where Mr. Diagoras is stood. 

 

“The conductor must be complete for our plan to succeed,” it belts out to the man.

 

“Unemployment is such an incentive,” Mr. Diagoras tells the Dalek. “It’ll get done, don’t worry.”

 

“Daleks have no concept of worry,” it tells him.

 

“Yeah? Well, lucky you,” Mr. Diagoras says as he dabs away sweat from his forehead.

 

“This day is ending. Humankind is weak. You shelter from the dark and yet, you have built all this,” The Dalek states.

 

“That’s progress,” Mr. Diagoras says with a shrug. “You to to move with the times or you get left behind.”

 

“My planet is gone, destroyed in a great war, yet versions of this city stand throughout history. The human race always continues.” If Mr. Diagoras hadn’t known the creature better, he would’ve thought that it sounded jealous, or at least confounded at their progress.

 

“We’ve had wars,” he says. “I’ve been a soldier myself, and I swore then I’d survive, no matter what.”

 

“You have a rare ambition,” the Dalek tells him and he straightens his back a little more.

 

“I want to run this city, whatever it takes, by any means necessary.”

 

“You think like a Dalek.”

 

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he says in turn, the only thing that had popped into his head. He hadn’t known how to take its… flattery? Well, he didn’t know what it was, but he was going to view it in a positive light.

 

\--

 

“This human is our best option,” another Dalek says from down below. “Bring him to me.”

 

\--

 

“Your loyalty will be rewarded,” the Dalek with Mr. Diagoras states. “Come with me.” It heads back to the elevator and Mr. Diagoras hesitates a second before following.

 

\--

 

“Prepare the laboratory. The Final Experiment will begin,” Dalek Sec commands.

 

“We obey,” another Dalek says as it moves to comply.

 

\--

 

“Where are we going?” Mr. Diagoras asks trying to keep the worry from his voice.

 

“You have been summoned by our leader,” the Dalek tells him and Mr. Diagoras tries not to faint at the thought.

 

“Oh, and about time, too,” he tells the Dalek assuming an air of confidence he didn’t have.

 

The elevator doors open several minutes later and Mr. Diagoras steps out ahead of the Dalek, putting on his gloves as he does so. He won’t give these creatures the satisfaction of seeing his hands sweat. If only he could do something to control the sweat on his face.

 

A crowd of human-esque monsters crowd around him and he tries not to flinch as he looks out at their pig heads.

 

“I bring you the human,” the Dalek he rode in the elevator with says to the room as he glides out next to him.

 

“I take it you’re in charge?” Mr. Diagoras asks of the sole black Dalek.

 

“Correct. I am Dalek Sec, leader of the Cult of Skaro,” the black Dalek tells him. He had no idea what the other stuff it said was but he was grateful for the name.

 

“Then, my Lord Sec, I am honoured to meet you,” he tells it stepping forward slightly. “Ever since you first made contact with me, transmitting your thoughts into the corners of my mind, tempting me with such images, such ideas. Oh, sir, I’d always dreamt that the-”

 

“Cease talking,” Dalek Sec interrupted his pandering and Mr. Diagoras almost wet himself right then and there, but he had to do this. He had to do this to survive.

 

“I just want to let you know how grateful I am,” he explains holding his hands up placatingly.

 

“I said cease,” Dalek Sec said, Mr. Diagoras’ words holding no effect over the creature. “Slaves, secure the human.”

 

“But you don’t need to do that. I’m on your side,” Mr. Diagoras says quickly looking around him as the pig-people close in on him. “I’m working with you. I’m your partner. I’m your friend,” he says desperately as his arms are grabbed by the pig-people.


	2. Another Punch on the Kidnap Card, Martha

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit late, but here you go. Also, I've not set proper chapter breaks for this story which I'm kicking myself about, so sorry if they seem a bit weirdly placed.

“We’re way beyond half a mile,” Solomon says as he looks up at the manhole providing a halo of light. “There’s no collapse, nothing.” 

 

“That Diagoras bloke, was he lying?” Martha asks hands on hips. Her feet were aching from standing still for so long.

 

“Looks like it,” Rose tells her as she leans against the wall. She was exhausted and her stomach was protesting loud enough even the others could hear it. They really should’ve stopped for chips  _ before _ going to Hooverville.

 

“So why’d he want people to come down here?” Frank asks, the only one who didn’t look the least bit tired.

 

“Solomon, maybe you and Frank should head back,” Rose suggests, knowing that Martha would come with her no matter what Rose said otherwise. She was a bit like Donna in that respect.

 

A pig's’ squeal cuts off whatever was about to be said as it echoes all around them.

 

“What the Hell was that?” Solomon asks as they all move towards each other.

 

“Hello?” Frank calls out. Martha shushes him, but he frowns and turns to Solomon, who had said his name in warning.

 

“What if it’s one of the folk gone missing? You’d be scared and half mad down here on your own.”

 

“You think they’re still alive?” Rose asks. She hadn’t thought that the others were optimistic

 

“Heck, we ain’t seen no bodies down here. Maybe they just got lost,” he says with a small shrug and she gives him a small smile. More squeals could be heard sending them all on alert once more.

 

“I know I never heard nobody make a sound like that,” Solomon says with a shake of his head.

 

“Where’s it coming from? Sounds like there’s more than one of them,” Franks asks pointing his torch down one of the corridors.

 

“This way?” Rose asks pointing down another way.

 

“No, that way,” Solomon corrects, his torch landing on a crouched figure in a corner.

 

“Rose?” Martha asks as she looks at the figure. Rose goes over to her and holds her hand, needing reassurance as well.

 

“Who are you?” Solomon demands, but the figure stays where it’s at with no indication it heard the man.

 

“Are you lost?” Frank asks gently as he approaches the figure. “Can you understand me? I’ve been thinking about folk lost down here,” he tells the figure, who does nothing but huddle in the corner shivering.

 

“Frank’s got a point,” Rose says as she lets go of Martha’s hand and goes over to where Frank is stood. “I’d hate to be down here on my own. We know the way out,” she tosses out to see if the person would turn to face them. It’s only when her step lands on something does the person look up with the face of a pig.

 

Frank backs away quickly but Rose stays where she’s at looking the creature straight in the eye.

 

“Hello there,” she says to it. “Who are you?”

 

“Is that, er, some kind of carnival mask?” Solomon asks as he gets a look at the pig-faced person before them.

 

“No, it’s real,” Rose says not taking her eyes from the alien before her. “I can help,” she offers up to the creature but it doesn’t even seem like it understands her, which shouldn’t be possible. The TARDIS can translate any language. Well, except for that beast pit language, but she’d rather not dwell on that particular adventure.

 

“Uh, Rose? I think you’d better get back here,” Martha calls out to her and Rose can see from the corner of her eye that more pigmen aliens have entered the tunnel. So it’s more of an infestation than a stranding. Rose gets up and goes back to the group.

 

“They’re following you,” Martha points out and Rose grimaces.

 

“Yeah, noticed that. Well then, Martha, Frank, Solomon,” Rose says clapping her hands before her.

 

“What?”

 

“Run!” She shouts as she leads them back down towards the junction they came from, a grin on her face despite the circumstances. All she was missing was a hand in hers.

 

“Where are we going?” Martha shouts as they run.

 

“I see a ladder!” Solomon calls and leads them down a side passage. Rose scrambles up first, sonic screwdriver in hand as she pushes the manhole cover up, paying no mind to the protest of her shoulder.

 

Martha came after her and then Solomon, who was shouting for Frank, who was holding off the pigmen, to climb up after him.

 

“C’mon, Frank! C’mon!” Solomon shouts as he reaches down the hole for Frank’s hand. Just as their hands connect, the pigmen yank on Frank’s legs sending him crashing back down into the sewer.

 

“Frank!” All three of them shout as they see the pigmen take him away.

 

It’s only when one of them start to climb the ladder does Solomon slide the cover back over the hole. Rose bangs on the manhole cover knowing that she can’t go back down there for risk of them all getting caught. She just wished there was something she could do for Frank.

 

“We can’t go after him,” Solomon explains and Rose feels her throat tightening.

 

“We can’t just leave him,” she tells Solomon looking up at where he stood.

 

“No,” he says firmly with a shake of his head. “I’m not losing anybody else. Those creatures were from Hell. From Hell itself! If we go after them, they’ll take us all! There’s nothing we can do. I’m sorry.” Rose sniffles as she gets to her feet. She wonders why Martha hasn’t offered her opinion and turns to see her with her back to them and her hands in the air.

 

“All right, then,” a voice says from in front of Martha. “Put them up. Hands in the air and no funny business.” Rose goes to stand by Martha, her hands coming up as she gets a look at the woman pointing a gun at them. “Now tell me, you schmucks, what have you done with Laszlo?”

 

“Who’s Laszlo?” Martha asks her dumbfounded. Of all the things she was expecting, this was not one of them. The blonde just waves the gun in a ‘walk over there’ gesture and she takes them into what looks like a dressing room for a theatre.

 

“Laszlo’s my boyfriend,” she explains. “Or, was my boyfriend until he disappeared two weeks ago. No letter, no goodbye, no nuttin’.” She pouts and both Martha and Rose would’ve felt more sorry for her if she wasn’t waving a gun around in their faces. “And I’m not stupid. I know some guys are just pigs but not my Laszlo. I mean, what kind of guy asks you to meet his mother before he vamooses?” She turns to them as if she actually wants an answer.

 

“I think it might help if you put that down,” Rose tells her nodding her head at the gun.

 

“Huh?” She looks down at the gun in her hand as if she forgot it was there. “Oh, sure,” she says simply, tossing it behind her where it lands on some boxes. Rose, Martha, and Solomon all duck but the woman just waves them off. “Oh, come on. It’s not real. It’s just a prop. It was either that or a spear.”

 

Martha sighs in relief, putting her hands down to straighten her jacket. She sees Rose and Solomon do the same. “What do you think happened to Laszlo?” she asks.

 

“Wish I knew,” the woman sighs out her hands cupping her elbows as her arms come up to comfort her. “One minute he’s there, the next, zip. Vanished.”

 

“What’s your name?” Rose asks feeling much better now that the gun was out of the way. She picked up her distaste for guns from the Doctor and the many  _ many _ times she’s been threatened with one.

 

“Tallulah,” the woman tells her before going over to sit at one of the vanities.

 

“Tallulah,” Rose repeats slowly trying the name out. It kind of sounded like a name she might hear on a distant planet.

 

“Three L’s and an H,” Tallulah explains and Rose just nods.

 

“Right. Do you know where he disappeared?”

 

Tallulah shakes her head. “I was performing,” she says her head bowing to look down at her lap. “I didn’t even know he was gone until the show was over.” Both Rose and Martha lay a hand on her shoulder as Tallulah starts to cry.

 

“We’ll find him,” Martha promises.

 

“There are others that are also missing. Chances are, he’s been taken, too,” Rose adds.

 

“And we’ll find him,” Martha repeats squeezing Tallulah’s shoulder. Tallulah at them through the mirror, wiping away her tears.

 

“And there are creatures. Such creatures,” Solomon says incredulously. He was still processing what he saw down there.

 

“What do you mean, creatures?” Tallulah asks. Rose sighs as she sits down at one of the other vanities running a hand through her hair.

 

“I don’t know. I mean, I could do a scan, but he was never really fond of doing the Spock thing so I don’t know the setting. And I  _ could _ go back to the TARDIS and see if I could do it that way, but that’d jus’ waste time we don’t have,” Rose rambles, her words only confusing the others. “We need to find out where they’re from.”

 

“And how about you, Miss?” Solomon asks. “Where are you from? I’ve been all over. I never heard anybody talk like you. Just exactly who are you?” There it was again. The question she’s come to dread. Is this what the Doctor felt like when others asked him that? Did it feel like an ice shard to the heart every time someone asked him who or what he was?

 

“‘M Rose,” she tells him. “Rose Prentice. Jus’ a passerby.”

 

“I’m not a fool, Rose,” Solomon warns her, but she already knows this. Rose can see Martha giving her a sympathetic smile.

 

“I wasn’t saying you were,” Rose says placatingly. Solomon sighs, shaking his head as he walks back to the entrance of the dressing room.

 

“I was so scared, you know? I let them take Frank because I was just so scared,” He tells them, his eyebrows furrowing as he thinks back to what happened. He clenches and unclenches his fists. “I got to get back to Hooverville. With these creatures on the loose, we got to protect ourselves. Ain’t no one else going to help us.”

 

“Don’t count us out,” Rose tells him and Solomon gives her a small smile.

 

“I hope you find out what you’re looking for, for all our sakes,” he tells her before departing.

 

\--

 

“So tell us about Laszlo,” Martha says a few minutes after Solomon leaves. The tension Rose was leaking wasn’t good for her.

 

“Laszlo,” Tallulah sighs out as she starts to powder her face. “He’d wait for me after the show. Walk me home like I was a lady. He’d leave a flower for me on my dressing table,” she tells them her voice going soft as she smooths a hand down the table. “Every day, just a single rose bud.”

 

“Haven’t you reported him missing?” Martha asks, though her eyes were on Rose who had yet to move.

 

“Sure,” Tallulah says. “He’s just a stagehand so who cares? The management certainly don’t.”

 

“Can’t you kick up a fuss or something?”

 

“Okay, so then they fire me,” Tallulah says with certainty.

 

“But they’d listen to you. You’re one of the stars!” Martha is glad she wasn’t alive during this era if people could pull crap like this just so they didn’t have to look for a missing person.

 

“Oh, honey,” Tallulah says putting down her makeup to look at Martha through the mirror. “I got one song in a back street revue and that’s only because Heidi Chicane broke her ankle. Which had nothing to do with me whatever anybody says. I can’t afford to make a fuss. If I don’t make this month’s rent, then, before you know it, I’m in Hooverville.”

 

“Okay, I get it,” Martha tells her holding onto her anger.

 

“It’s the Depression, sweetie,” Tallulah imparts. “Your heart might break, but the show goes on. Because if it stops, you starve. Every night I have to go out there. Sing, dance, keep going, hoping he’s going to come back.”

 

“I know how that feels,” Rose says, practically whispers. Martha sees her subtly wipe away a tear. She wishes there was something she could do for Rose, but the girl grieved in private, never really sharing her pain.

 

“Still,” Tallulah says with a sigh as she adds more powder to her face. “You got to live in hope. It’s the only thing that’s kept me going because, well, look.” She holds up a white rose bud. “On my dressing table every day still.”

 

“You think it’s Laszlo?” Martha asks because Rose is faraway, trapped in a memory.

 

“I don’t know,” Tallulah says as she looks at herself in the mirror. “If he’s still around, why is he being all secret like he doesn’t want me to see him?”

 

\--

 

“The stories are true!” Solomon shouts to the crowd before him over the roar of the pouring rain. “People are being taken. We lost Frank today. He was stolen from right in front of me. No more. I swear to you, no more. Now, I made a pledge that this place would be a peaceful place, but now it’s time to take up arms.”

 

The crowd shouts in agreement.

 

“We need weapons. We need sentries on duty. We need men prepared to fight. We’ve got to protect ourselves because you know no one else will.”

 

The crowd shouts again and Solomon steps down from where he stood on a small platform.

 

“Now, get moving. Arm yourselves. Come on!”

 

\--

 

Meanwhile, in the dark, up on the top of the mast-lightning conductor of the Empire State Building, in the cold wind and rain, several construction workers are working to place metal panels to the base.

 

“I can’t feel my fingers!” The new foreman yells above the clap of thunder. “We can’t stay here for much longer! We’ll fall!” He helps another worker rivet another panel onto the tall metal rod.

 

“Come on, we’re nearly done!” A construction worker yells as he grabs another panel.

 

\--

 

“The chromatin solution is ready,” a Dalek states.

 

“Then our preparations are complete,” Dalek Sec says with an almost mechanical glee.

 

“What are you doing? Preparations for what?” Mr. Diagoras asks hysterically from where he is being held down.

 

“This is the Final Experiment,” Dalek Sec explains.

 

“What do you mean? Do you mean like the pig men things? You’re not going to turn me into one of those. Oh God, please don’t!”

 

“The pig slaves are primitive. The Final Experiment is greater by far.”

 

“But how does that involve me?” Mr. Diagoras asks jostling a little in the pig men’s grasp.

 

“We need your flesh. Bring him to me,” Dalek Sec commands.

 

“Halt!” Dalek Thay shouts. “This action contradicts the Dalek Imperative.”

 

“Daleks are supreme. Humans are weak,” the other, unnamed Dalek states.

 

“But there are millions of humans and only four of us. If we are supreme, why are we not victorious? The Cult of Skaro was created by the Emperor for this very purpose. To imagine new ways of survival,” Dalek Sec explains.

 

“But we must remain pure,” Dalek Thay pushes.

 

“No, Dalek Thay. Our purity has brought us to extinction. We must adapt to survive. You have all made sacrifices,” Dalek Sec notes bringing up the missing panels Dalek Thay gave up to be put on top of the Empire State Building. “And now I will sacrifice myself for the greater cause, the future of Dalek kind. Now, bring me the human.”

 

“I don’t understand. What do you mean?” Mr. Diagoras spouts as the pig men drag him closer. “Get off me!” he yells struggling against their might.

 

“Behold the true Dalek form,” Dalek Sec says as he opens his protective casing. “Now you join with me.”

 

“No! Get off me!” Mr. Diagoras shouts as the pig men bring him closer to the real form of Dalek Sec. “I did everything you asked of me! No!”

 

\--

 

“Girls, it’s showtime!” Tallulah says to the other two women in the dressing room.

 

“Lois, you spoil my chasse tonight, I’m going to punch you,” one of them says to the other.

 

“Aw, quit complaining, Myrna. Go buy yourself some glasses,” Lois says right back before leaving the dressing room with Myrna.

 

“You two want to take a look?” Tallulah asks as Rose and Martha follow her out. “You ever been on stage before?”

 

“Oh, a little bit,” Martha says waving a hand. “You know, Shakespeare.”

 

“How dull is that?” Tallulah asks and Rose has to hold back a smile. “Come and see a  _ real  _ show.” She walks out on stage and Martha makes eye contact with her and they both giggle at Tallulah’s words.

 

“Shakespeare  _ was _ rather boring,” Martha says with a laugh to her voice.

 

“ _ Dreadfully _ dry,” Rose agrees with a nod before they both giggle some more.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen,” a voice over the speakers greets. “The Laurenzi Dancing Devils, with Heaven and Hell!” The curtain opens and the girls dressed in red pull back their red feathered fans to reveal Tallulah, dressed in white. She walks up to the microphone and wraps a delicate hand around it.

 

“ _ You lured me in with your cold grey eyes _ ,” she sings. Martha and Rose are impressed with Tallulah’s singing skills.

 

“She’s really good,” Martha says, her voice soft with awe. Rose nods in agreement, her eyes dancing over the dancing figures before her.

 

Martha spots someone across them in the other wing and grabs Rose’s forearm to get her attention. “Look,” she whispers subtly pointing at the figure across from them.

 

“Is that Laszlo?” Rose whispers back as she spots the flower in his hand. It was a white rose, just like the one Talulah showed them.

 

“Could be,” Martha muses. “But I thought he was kidnapped?”

 

“Only one way to find out,” Rose says as she makes her way to the backdrop. She leads Martha down a narrow strip of walkway just behind the red curtain. Martha hadn’t even known there was something back here. She would’ve just walked right across the stage had she been alone.

 

Before they make it even halfway, Rose curses in an alien sounding language that the TARDIS doesn’t translate for her and they both go tumbling through the curtain onto the stage.

 

“What are you doing?” Myrna asks them as they crash into her. Martha reaches out to steady herself, but she grabs the woman’s devil tail on accident and pulls her to the ground with her and Rose.

 

“What are you doing?” Tallulah asks sounding more curious than upset.

 

“You’re on my tail. Get off my tail!” Lois complains to Rose as all four women struggle to untangle themselves. Meanwhile, the crowd is laughing at them as they try to stand.

 

“Get off the stage! You’re spoiling it!” Tallulah yells at them, her face red with anger and embarrassment as she takes in the crowds laughter.

 

“But look,” Martha says as she point off stage. “Over there!” Tallulah looks over to where Martha indicates and screams bloody murder. It must’ve spooked the person because he bolts.

 

“Hey!” Martha yells as she gets up to chase after the person. She wants to know if it’s Laszlo, or maybe another missing person from Hooverville. “Wait!” she calls after him as she follows him into the props room. The same room they came up from the sewers. She catches a quick flash of his face. He’s a pigman, like the ones who attacked them down in the tunnels. Only, he’s running away from her like he’s scared or something. “But you’re different from the others! Just wait!” But he’s already gone and Martha is left wondering if she should risk going back into the sewers. It could very well be a trap.

 

\--

 

“It was like something out of a movie show,” Myrna says from where she’s sat on the floor.

 

“Oh, that face. I ain’t never going to sleep,” Lois exclaims as she fans herself.

 

Rose, who was spitting out a red feather from her mouth looks over to see Martha gone. “Where is she?” she asks as she gets up spinning around to find her friend. “Where’s Martha?”

 

“I don’t know,” Tallulah answers. “She ran off the stage.”

 

Just then, an ear piercing shriek comes from the same direction Martha fled to. Rose immediately feels her blood run cold before chasing after that sound.  _ Please, let Martha be okay. Please, don’t let anything happen to her. Please, please, please. _

 

“Martha!” Rose shouts as she runs. She finds herself back in the room they crawled up to from the sewers to see the manhole lid out of place. She drops down to shove it out of her way.

 

“Where are you going?” Tallulah asks. Rose hadn’t even known the woman had followed her.

 

“They’ve taken her,” Rose grunts out.

 

“Who’s taken her? What’re you doing?” Tallulah asks as Rose starts her way down the ladder. “I said, what the Hell are you doing?” she shouts down the hole, but still Rose refuses to answer. She sighs, grabbing her fur coat before descending the ladder after her. “Crazy broad,” she mutters to herself.

 

“No, you’re not coming,” Rose tells her from below.

 

“Tell me what’s going on,” Tallulah demands as she continues down the ladder. Only, she sort of wished she grabbed gloves as well. Her hands were never going to be clean again.

 

“There’s nothing you can do, you should go back.”

 

“Look,” Tallulah says as her feet touch ground. She spins to face Rose and puts a finger on the others chest. “Whoever’s taken Martha, they could’ve taken Laszlo, couldn’t they?” She sees the Rose’s face crumble a little at that.

 

“Tallulah,” she sighs out running a hand through her hair. “You’re not- it’s not-  _ safe _ down here.”

 

“Then that’s my problem,” Tallulah responds settling her coat around her before walking away. “Come on. Which way?”

 

“Er, this way,” Rose tells her pointing in the opposite direction.

 

“Right.”

 

\--

 

“No! Let me go!” Martha shouts as she’s manhandled against a wall with a line of men being escorted past her.

 

“Martha?” a familiar voice calls out and Martha almost weeps with joy.

 

“You’re alive!” she shouts as she goes to hug Frank. “Oh, I thought we’d lost you!” One of the pigmen pushes them to get moving and Martha glares at it over Frank’s shoulder. “Alright, alright. We’re moving.”

 

“Where are they taking us?” Frank asks her as they continue walking down the tunnel.

 

“I don’t know, but we can find out what’s going on down here,” Martha replies as she looks around her to devise a way to escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, did y'all want me to do the Blink episode? Because I've read it over and watched it, but I can't really work in a way to put Rose and Martha in that same situation. I mean, I could make it go in a completely opposite direction, but it would lose Sally and them so.... y'alls opinions would be welcomed and much needed! Please and Thank!


	3. The Future Looking At You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is in honour of Lance McClain, the best blue boi out there amongst the stars, Happy Birthday!
> 
> Now, thank you to those who replied about my Blink question, I appreciated it. And Polarbaroness has given me the idea to actually run with the episode with some twists to it fits Rose being the one in the story instead of the Doctor.

“When you say, they’ve taken her, who’s they exactly? And who are you anyway? I never asked,” Tallulah asks in a loud voice.

 

“Shush!” Rose feels rude for shushing her, but with Tallulah’s voice echoing around, sneaking up on the pigmen will be very hard to do.

 

“Okay, okay,” Tallulah says still loud and Rose is about to tell her off when she hears a familiar whirring sound. She grabs Tallulah, puts a hand over her mouth and drags them down another tunnel to hide until it’s passed. All the while, her blood is simultaneously boiling with rage and freezing with dread. 

 

When it passes them by, she feels her arms go slack and can barely hear Tallulah sputtering. It’s like she back in that white room all over again.

 

“No, no, no, no, no, no,” she says hoarsely. “They survived. They always survive while I lose everything.”

 

“That metal thing?” Tallulah asks as she wipes at her mouth. “What was it?”

 

“Dalek,” Rose whispers. “They’re alive.” How could they be alive?

 

“You’re kidding me,” Tallulah says as she looks back to where the Dalek went.

 

“Inside that shell is a creature born to hate, born to kill everything that isn’t like itself. And it won’t stop. It’ll never stop. They will never not be, will they?” Rose can feel her hands shake as she remembers her first encounter with a Dalek. She had stopped the Doctor from killing it, and with good reason. But upon remembering her second encounter, she realised exactly why the Doctor had become so hysteric. She wishes her third encounter never happened.

 

“But, if it’s not human,” Tallulah says slowly as she comes to a conclusion. “That kind of implies it’s from outer space.” Rose stays silent, only offering a nod. “Yet again, that’s a no with the kidding. Boy.” She lets out a puff of air. “Well, what’s it doing here, in New York?” Rose wished she had an answer.

 

\--

 

Smoke is coming out of the shell casing of Dalek Sec as he vibrates.

 

“Stop the process. Dalek Sec is failing,” a Dalek shouts in almost alarm.

 

“No,” Dalek Sec belays. “The experiment must continue. Administer the solution. We must evolve. Evolve. Evolve!”

 

\--

 

“You’re in real danger now,” Rose tells Tallulah. “You’ve got to go back.” They round the corner only to come face to face with another pigman. Tallulah screams as it tries to hide. It hunches it’s back and turns around, but it can’t run because suddenly, Rose is on it. And she is furious.

 

“Where’s Martha?! What have you done with her? What have you done with Martha?” She demands as she boxes it into a corner. All her compassion flies out the window as she shouts at the alien. Her only concern is Martha.

 

“I didn’t take her,” the pigman says in a low voice. Rose immediately unclenches, her shoulders straighten out as she takes in the fact that he spoke. The other one never did that. It hadn’t even looked like it registered words.

 

“You speak,” she tells it redundantly.

 

“Don’t look at me,” it tells her as it hunches it’s back even more.

 

“Do you know where she is?” Tallulah asks as she comes forward, but that seems to set it off even more.

 

“Stay back! Don’t look at me!”

 

“What happened to you?” Rose asks as she takes in his appearance.  _ His _ . For he was a man from what she could tell. He was wearing human clothing and they were from the correct time period.

 

“They made me a monster,” he spat out.

 

“Who did?”

 

“The masters.” Rose’s throat went tight as she registers his words.

 

“Not masters,” she tells him, her voice rough as she says them. “Never masters.  _ Daleks _ .”

 

“They needed slaves,” he explains. “They needed slaves to steal more people so they created us. Part animal, part human.” He lets out a low sob and Rose hates that she blew up at him. “I escaped before they got my mind, but it was still too late.”

 

“Do you know what happened to Martha?” She asks him, now knowing him to be Laszlo. No wonder he didn’t want to be seen.

 

“They took her,” he tells her confirming her worst nightmare. “It’s my fault. She was following me.”

 

“Were you in the theatre?” Tallulah asks as she takes another step forward.

 

“I never-” he protests before sagging. “Yes.”

 

“Why? Why were you in there?” Tallulah presses. Rose can tell this wouldn’t end well.

 

“I never wanted you to see me like this,” Laszlo tells her from over his shoulder.

 

“Why me? What I got to do with this? Were you following me? Is that why you were there?” Tallulah asks her voice cracking as she grows hysterical.

 

Laszlo turns around as he answers her. “Yes.”

 

“Who are you?” she asks, although Rose can see that the answers already dawning on her.

 

“I was lonely,” he answers.

 

“Who are you?”

 

“I needed to see you.”

 

“Who are you!?”

 

“I’m sorry,” Laszlo apologizes, his shoulders hunching even more as he turns in on himself.

 

“No, wait. Let me look at you,” Tallulah says as she steps into his space and pulls his face up to stare at him. “Laszlo? My Laszlo? Oh, what have they down to you?” She asks as she rubs a thumb over his cheek.

 

“I’m sorry. So sorry,” Laszlo tells her as he cries.

 

“No, no, sweetie,” Tallulah says as she hushes him. She wraps him up in a hug that he’s hesitant to return.

 

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” Rose says a few seconds later. “But, Laszlo, do you think you can show me where they are hiding?”

 

“They’ll kill you,” he states as he lets go of Tallulah.

 

“They’ll kill us all if I don’t try,” she responds. He sees the look of determination in her eyes and nods.

 

“Then follow me.”

 

\--

 

“What are they keeping us here for?” Frank whispers to Martha. He doesn’t expect her to know but it’s something he had to ask.

 

“I don’t know,” Martha whispers back, her head bent so he can hear her. “I’ve got a nasty feeling we’re being kept in the larder.”

 

“What’re they doing?” Frank asks as all around them the pigmen shuffle and squeal as if they were nervous. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong?”

 

“Silence,” a mechanical voice blurts out. “Silence.”

 

“What the  _ Hell  _ is that?” Martha says as she takes in the robot before her. Is it from the future or was it an alien? Or maybe it was both, but whatever it was, Martha could tell it was dangerous.

 

“You will form a line,” the robot commands. “Move. Move.”

 

“Just do what it says, everyone, okay?” Martha tells the small crowd of people. “Just obey.” She didn’t want anyone to get hurt for not complying.

 

“The female is wise. Obey,” the robot demands and the crowd does as told.

 

“Report!” Another of the robot’s boom out, the two lightbulbs protruding from it’s head lighting up at every consonant. 

 

“These are strong specimens,” the first robot states. Martha did not like how that sounded. She could feel the uptick of her heartbeat. “They will help the Dalek cause.”

 

“Dalek?” Martha mouths to herself. Now why did that sound familiar?

 

“What is the status of the Final Experiment?”

 

“The Dalekanium is in place. The energy conductor is now complete,” the second Dalek reports.

 

“Then I will extract prisoners for selection,” the first one says as it spins around. A pigman grabs an older man and places him in front of the Dalek. “Intelligence scan, initiate.” It moves what looks like a plunger to rest on the man’s face. “Reading brain waves. Low intelligence.”

 

“You callin’ me stupid?” the man asks his brow furrowing in anger.

 

“Silence!” The Dalek shouts. “This one will become a pig slave. Next.”

 

“No, let go of me! I’m not becoming one of them. No! No!” the man protests as he is being dragged away. Martha realises then that the pigmen weren’t aliens, they were humans.

 

“Intelligence scan, initiate,” the Dalek says already moving on to the next person. Martha wonders what kind of person, alien or not, would be so callous with a life.

 

\--

 

“They’re divided into two groups,” Laszlo informs them. “High intelligence and low intelligence. The low intelligence are taken to become pig slaves like me.”

 

“Well, that’s not fair,” Tallulah says and Rose almost face palms. It’s like this woman didn’t know the meaning of stealth. Rose puts finger to her lips to remind Tallulah to keep it down. “You’re the smartest guy I ever dated,” she adds, this time in a low voice. It was mostly due to her pouting, but Rose would take what she could get.

 

“An’ where’re the high intelligence people taken?” Rose asks as she looks in on the room to see the Dalek scan another person.

 

“They’re taken to the laboratory.”

 

“What? Lab? Why?”

 

Laszlo shrugs. “I don’t know. The masters only call it the Final Experiment.”

 

“Daleks,” Rose corrects as she watches Frank get scanned. She’s happy that he’s still alive and well.

 

\--

 

“Superior intelligence,” the Dalek states and Martha lets out a breath of relief. She didn’t want Frank to become one of those pigmen.

 

“Intelligence scan, initiate,” the Dalek says as it puts the plunger over her own face. She knows there’s no point in resisting, but she still cringes when she feels a tingling sensation run across her scalp. “Superior intelligence. This one will become part of the Final Experiment.” 

 

“You can’t just experiment on people!” She tells them as a pigman tries to lead her away. “It’s insane! It’s inhuman!”

 

“We are not human,” the Dalek says plainly. “Prisoners of high intelligence will be taken to the transgenic laboratory.”

 

\--

 

“Look out, they’re moving,” Rose whispers and shoos them down another tunnel to get out of sight of the moving party. Laszlo moves further down the tunnel with Tallulah, but Rose stays right by the corner, ready to make her move.

 

“Rose, quickly now,” Laszlo says as he waves his arm in a ‘come here’ motion.

 

“‘M not coming,” Rose tells him. “I’ve got to get Martha. You guys should go, though.”

 

“Laszlo, come on,” Tallulah urges pulling on his arm, but Laszlo doesn’t budge. He takes one last look at Rose before turning to Tallulah.

 

“Can you remember the way back?” he asks her.

 

“Yeah, I think so,” she says unsure, but he doesn’t have time. He can’t leave Rose to go off on her own.

 

“Then go, please,” he pleads.

 

“But Laszlo, you got to come with me,” Tallulah tells him.

 

“Where would I go?” He asks her. “Tallulah, I’m begging you. Save yourself. Just run. Just go.” She starts to leave, but her eyes stay on him.

 

“But I only just found you again,” Tallulah says with tears in her eyes. Laszlo smiles sadly at her, his own eyes watery.

 

“Go.” She sniffs, squeezes his hand, and then turns to walk down the tunnel and around the corner.

 

“Thank you,” Rose whispers to Laszlo as they hug the wall of the tunnel as the Daleks move past.

 

She waits until she sees Martha pass by to slip in behind her. Laszlo comes to stand beside her, his shoulders hunching to look like the other pigmen slaves.

 

She taps Martha’s shoulder and leans in to whisper, “Sorry I got you kidnapped again.” Martha starts before relaxing.

 

“Oh, I’m so glad to see you,” she tells Rose as she looks over her shoulder.

 

“I’m buying extra chips for this,” Rose tells her trying to lighten the mood. Martha just grumbles out a ‘you better’ before they both go quiet as a pigman walks by them.

 

\--

 

“Report,” a Dalek commands as they enter the laboratory with a trail of humans behind them.

 

“Dalek Sec is in the final stage of evolution,” Dalek Thay tells it.

 

“Scan him. Prepare for birth.”

 

“Birth? Birth of what?” Rose whispers out. As far as she knew, Daleks were _ created _ , not  _ birthed _ .

 

“What’s wrong with old Charlie boy over there?” Martha asks her, nodding her head towards the sole black Dalek. It was shaking and smoking and had all sorts of wires coming out of it.

 

“Well, we could ask ‘em,” Rose suggests. “Or, more like,  _ you _ could ask.”

 

“What? Me? Don’t be daft.”

 

“Look, I wouldn’t ask you to do it if I could. But I can’t,” Rose tries to explain.

 

“And why not?”

 

“Because I’ve run into them before and I don’t want ‘em to know I’m here jus’ yet,” Rose tells her. Martha bites her lip as she weighs her options. Rose gives her an encouraging look and Martha knows she’s going to regret this, but she straightens her spine, squares her shoulders and steps out of the safety of the crowd.

 

“Daleks, I demand to be told,” she says with confidence she barely has. “What is this Final Experiment? Report!” she adds to the end, knowing how fond they are of that word.

 

“You will bear witness,” a Dalek answers and Martha almost faints in surprise that that had actually worked.

 

“To what?”

 

“This is the dawn of a new age,” it tells her, it’s voice almost beaming with pride.

 

“What does that mean?”

 

“We are the only four Daleks in existence, so the species must evolve a life outside the shell,” it explains. Martha can tell she won’t like where this was going. “The Children of Skaro must walk again.”

 

With that, the black Dalek stops smoking and the light dims from the stalk coming out of it’s head. A hissing sound can be heard as the front of it opens and somebody struggles to come out of it.

 

“What is it?” Martha asks as the smoke clears. It’s a purple cyclops blob looking thing wearing a familiar suit.

 

“I am a human Dalek,” it says haltingly in a familiar voice. “I am your future.” Martha’s blood runs cold as she realises that the suit belonged to Mr. Diagoras. She knew what the Final Experiment was and she was right. She didn’t like where this was going.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo, I remember one of you asking about seeing the Doctor's POV from Pete's World and I might a sort of short between the breaks as I research stuff for later parts of the series. So just know that after this part, I'm going on a break to write more parts interspersed with that Doctor POV one shot, or maybe a two shot thing. IDK, we'll see.


	4. Listen, I Don't Think You Understand How Hard It Was Not To Make A Lilo And Stitch Reference

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all! Have a chapter!
> 
> On another note, I never again want to see another human being unless they are head-to-toe covered in clothes. Body Building Competitions have cured my asexual self of any ab appreciation I may have once had *shivers*
> 
> (no, like seriously, y'all, never ever again)

“These humans will become like me,” Dalek Sec states. “Prepare them for hybridisation.” The pigmen grab their arms as ordered. Rose sneaks out of the middle of the crowd and hugs the nearest wall. She grabs the sonic screwdriver tight in her hand as she points it at the table off centre the room. She can hear Martha arguing with the pigmen with little success.

 

“What is that sound?” Dalek Sec asks after the whistling noise.

 

“Ah, well, now, that would be me,” Rose tells him stepping into the spotlight. The three true Daleks scoot back while Dalek Sec looks at her with a wide eye, his tentacles thrashing around his face.

 

“ _ Abomination _ ,” Sec hisses at her.

 

“The enemy of the Daleks,” another belts out.

 

“Exterminate!”

 

“Wait!” Sec shouts stopping Dalek Thay from killing Rose. “The Cult of Skaro escaped your slaughter,” he tells her proudly. Rose bites back a growl.

 

“I wouldn’t exactly call it a slaughter,” Rose says trying for casual as she waves a hand at them. She notices the Daleks scoot back even more and gives them a hard smile. “I simply just waved a hand.” She looks over at the table, but she needs more time. “So, how’d you end up here, then? You would think four Daleks would’ve taken over the world by now.”

 

“Emergency Temporal Shift,” Sec tells her and Rose tries not to give away that she has no idea what that really means.

 

“And that somehow lead you to this?” She asks gesturing to his new form.

 

“I am Dalek in human form,” Dalek Sec proudly states.

 

“And?” She asks curious as to what he’ll say next. He reminds her of the first Dalek she came across.

 

“I feel humanity,” he says slowly stretching his arms out as his tentacles writhe around his head.

 

“Tha’s good.”

 

“I feel everything we wanted from mankind,” he continues. “Which is ambition, hatred, aggression, and war. Such a genius for war.” His voice was soft with awe but Rose feels her throat tighten.

 

“That’s not what humanity is,” she tells him.

 

“I think it does. At heart, you species is very Dalek.”

 

“But what about the rest of it?” she asks him.

 

“Rest of what?”

 

“You have one small piece of the whole. You look at us and see what you want, but that is not the whole picture. What about love? Do you feel that? Curiousity? Anything other than anger?”

 

“I feel- What is that noise?” he asks again looking around the room. Rose takes a step back, and then another and another until she’s almost to the exit.

 

“Run!” She shouts just as the chemicals explode on the table.

 

“Protect the hybrid!” the Daleks shout and the pigmen let go of their prisoners to comply with the orders given.

 

“Protect! Protect! Protect!”

 

“Report status,” Dalek Thay demands.

 

“Pain,” Dalek sec grunts out. “Pain of the flesh, like no other Dalek has felt for thousands of years.” The pigmen help him up and he looks around his now ruined lab.

 

“The Abomination has escaped,” another Dalek tells him.

 

“Then find it. Find it!”

 

“Find the Abomination. The prisoners must be recaptured.”

 

\--

 

“Come on! Move, move, move, move!” Rose shouts urging the tired people faster. She hates to do it, but it was either this or being captured again. They round a corner and come across a lost Tallulah. “Tallulah, run!” Rose tells her not even voicing her shock at finding the woman still down here.

 

“What’s happened to Laszlo?” Tallulah asks as she looks over the group.

 

“He’s not here?” Rose asks looking for herself as they come across a ladder. “Don’t worry, Tallulah, he’ll show up.” She urges the other woman up before climbing the ladder herself.

 

\--

 

“They have ascended,” A Dalek tells the pigmen. “Return to base.” When they have left it turns to its fellow Dalek. “Request information. What is your opinion of Dalek Sec?”

 

“We were created to follow him,” the other Dalek says immediately.

 

“But you have doubts,” the first Dalek states.

 

“Affirmative.”

 

\--

 

“These Daleks, they sound like the stuff of nightmares. And they want to breed?” Solomon asks looking a little pale.

 

“From what I can tell,” Rose says. “But all that matters right now is that you round everybody up and leave. You need to get everyone out of here right now.”

 

“Hooverville’s the lowest place a man can fall. There’s nowhere else to go,” Solomon says with a shake of his head.

 

“I’m not saying it’s forever, but for right now, it’s either you leave, or you die.”

 

“There’s got to be a way to reason with these things.” Solomon looks desperate and Rose doesn’t blame him, but they really need to leave.

 

“There’s not a chance,” Martha pipes up from Rose’s side.

 

“You ain’t seen them, boss,” Frank tells him as well.

 

“Daleks are made for one thing and one thing only, kill anything that isn’t like itself. Trust me when I say only one Dalek is needed to kill everyone in New York City. And there’s four of them. Solomon, you  _ need _ to  _ leave _ ,” Rose pleads. She can tell by the look on his face that he’s heard her, but it was too late. A whistles sounds from the trees.

 

“They’re coming!” Someone shouts in the distance.”They’re coming!”

 

“A sentry,” Solomon says as he squints at the man. He must have seen something.”

 

“They’re here! I’ve seen them! Monsters! They’re monsters!” The sentry shouts as he runs closer to the camp.

 

“We’re too late,” Rose whispers clenching her fists at her sides wishing there were a hand in hers.

 

“We’re under attack! Everyone to arms!” Solomon yells.   
  
“I’ve fought them before, Solomon,” Rose says her voice low as she looks at the people scramble around her. “You won’t win.”

 

“What do you suggest we do then? Give up?” He tells her before running to where the guns were.

 

“Can’t you do anything?” Martha whispers. “You said something about waving your hand.” Frank, who was following Solomon stops and turns with a wild look in his eyes.

 

Rose bites her bottom lip and shakes her head, tears spilling from her eyes as she takes in the screams around her.

 

“Then you lied?” Frank asks harshly.

 

“I’m sorry,” she says hoarsely. “I’m so sorry.”

 

“We’re trapped,” Tallulah cries out.

 

“Then we stand together,” Solomon says. “Gather round, everybody come to me. You there, Jethro, Harry, Seamus, stay together.” Men corral around where Solomon is, their faces set in despair. “They can’t take us all.”

 

“If we can just hold them off til daylight,” Martha mutters hopefully and Rose hates that she put Martha in this position. She had just wanted to show Martha the wonders of the Universe, but so far all she’s done is get her into danger. “Oh, my god.” Rose looks over to where Martha is looking to see a Dalek floating in the air coming towards them.

 

“What in the world is this?” Solomon asks his voice heavy with disbelief.

 

“It’s the devil,” the sentry tells them. “A devil in the sky. God save us all. It’s damnation.”

 

“Oh, yeah?” Frank asks redundantly. “We’ll see about that!” he fires the gun at the Dalek only for the bullet to harmlessly glance off with a clang.

 

“That’s not going to work,” Rose tells him which earns her a dirty glare.

 

“There’s more than one of them,” Martha says which makes Tallulah cry out again. The second Dalek shows up and the both of them start firing upon the tents and anyone scrambling for cover.

 

“The humans will surrender,” One of them commands. Rose walks to the front of the group despite Martha’s protest.

 

“Leave them alone!” she shouts at the one that spoke. “They’ve done nothing to you!”

 

\--

 

“We have located the Abomination,” Dalek Thay tells Dalek Sec from the laboratory down below.

 

\--

 

Solomon comes to stand beside Rose and she knows what’s about to happen next and she once again feels out of her league. If the Doctor were here he would know what to do, he would know the right words to say, the right setting on the screwdriver. He was the brains, she was just the tag along.

 

“I’m told that I’m addressing the Daleks, is that right?” Solomon asks and Rose grabs his arms tight in her grip.

 

\--

 

“Observe humanity. For all their faults, they have such courage,” Dalek Sec says as he looks on from the holo-vid set up.

 

\--

 

“Solomon, you won’t be able to get through to them, trust me on that,” she tells him looking him in the eye and urging him to understand how hopeless it would be.

 

“Rose, this is my township,” Solomon says after a minute swallowing thickly before continuing. “You will respect my authority. Just let me try,” he tells her before stepping out of her grip and turning back to look at the floating Daleks. “Daleks, ain’t we all the same? Underneath, ain’t we all kin?” He sets his rifle down as he walks forwards a little even after Rose tries to hold him back.

 

“Right, see, I’ve just discovered this past day, God’s Universe is a thousand times the size I thought it was. And that scares me. Oh yeah, terrifies me right down to the bone. But surely it’s got to give me hope. Hope that maybe together we can make a better tomorrow. So, I beg you, if you have any compassion in your hearts, then you’ll meet with us and stop this fight. Well? What do you say?” Solomon asks.

  
“Exterminate!” the Dalek says coolly before killing the man.

 

“No! Solomon!” Frank screams out as Solomon shouts out in pain before collapsing to the ground.

 

“They killed him,” Martha says looking upon Solomon’s body. “They just shot him on the spot.”

 

“Alright, so it’s my turn!” Rose shouts as she steps forward. “Then kill me! Kill me if it’ll stop you attacking these people!” She waves her hands in the air.

 

“I will be the destroyer of one of our greatest enemies,” the Dalek that shot Solomon states.

 

“Then do it!” Rose shouts. “Do it! Just do it!”

 

“Exterminate!” the Dalek calls out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On a bright note, I am currently working on more parts for the Rose Stays Series ( although not all are happy, just like cannon ) and I think y'all will be pleased to hear that I am also planning a five part little spinoff series for the Doc's POV one shots. I just gotta write them ( ugh ) and then I'll have them up soon after part 4 ends ( maybe, hopefully )!


	5. Aha!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little short, but bear with me.
> 
> Please.

“Stop! I command you. Stop!” Dalek Sec shouts before the Dalek could fire.

 

\--

 

“I do not understand. It it the Abomination,” the Dalek says confusedly. Rose is too shocked to really register Martha slapping her shoulder and shouting at her. She’s alive. Why is she alive?

 

\--

 

“But I want it alive,” Dalek Sec tells the other Dalek.

 

\--

 

“The urge to kill is too strong,” the floating Dalek says, it’s firing port moving up and down as it fidgets.

 

\--

 

“I have decided. The Abomination must live and you will obey me,” Dalek Sec commands.

 

\--

 

“I obey,” the floating Dalek says lowering it’s firing port.

 

“What’s going on?” Martha asks as she looks at the Dalek.

 

\--

 

“Bring it to me,” Dalek Sec orders.

 

\--

 

“You will follow,” the floating Dalek tells Rose.

 

“No! You can’t go!” Martha shouts grabbing onto Rose’s hand.

 

“They’ve never changed their minds before,” Rose says incredulously.

 

“But what about us?” Martha asks her tugging on her hand.

 

“One condition!” Rose shouts up at the Dalek. “If I come with you, you spare the lives of everyone here! Do you hear me?”

 

\--

 

“Obey the Abomination,” Dalek Sec orders.

 

\--

 

“Humans will be spared, Abomination, follow,” the Dalek tells her.

 

“Then I’m coming with you,” Martha says determinedly.

 

“Martha,” Rose says before seeing the look in her eye. “Stay here, okay? Do what you did on the moon. People are hurt an’ you can help them. Let me go.” She forces her hand from Martha’s grasp and walks away following the floating Dalek.

 

Martha looks down in her hand to see the psychic paper with a message on it.

 

\--

 

“You saved the Abomination. Why?” Dalek Thay asks looking Dalek Sec up and down.

 

“You dare question an order?” Dalek Sec demands only to see Dalek Thay cower and go back to work. In truth, he had not known why he saved the Abomination. It’s words about only seeing one part of humanity intrigued him. He wanted to know more.

 

\--

 

People are throwing water on the remaining burning tents, while Martha is sitting at the mouth of a non burnt one bandaging a man’s wrist. Tallulah walks over with a pan of hot water.

 

“Here you go,” she says with a tired sigh. “I got some more on the boil.”

 

“Thanks,” Martha tells her, her mind not really on the task at hand, but rather on the way Rose begged the Dalek to kill her. “You’ll be alright, it’s just a cut,” she says to the man. “Try and keep it clean.”

 

“Thanks,” the man says with a smile before leaving.

 

“So, what about us? What do we do now?” Tallulah asks her eyes bright with unshed tears and Martha realises that she’s not the only one worried about someone.

 

“Rose gave me this,” she says pulling out the psychic paper. “She must’ve had a reason.”

 

“What’s that for?”

 

“It gets you into places. Buildings and things. But where?” Martha asks looking down at the message Rose had left. It made no sense to her.

 

“Buildings?” Tallulah repeats. Martha whips her head up at that, a thought just occuring to her.

 

“Of course!” She shouts getting up from where she was sat, her legs protesting a little as she did so. “Where’s Frank?” she asks before setting off to find him.

 

\--

 

“Why’d you have to kill all those people? They hadn’t done anything to you? So why?” Rose shouts as soon as she sees Dalek Sec.

 

“The deaths were wrong,” He tells her, his voice low as his tentacles wriggle.

 

“I’m sorry?” she asks thinking she misheard him.

  
“That man, their leader, Solomon. He showed courage,” Dalek Sec says his eye scrunching up.

 

“An’ tha’s good?” she asks slowly not knowing where this was going.

 

“That’s excellent,” he tells her.

 

“You’ve changed,” she tells him coming closer.

 

“We aren’t so different, you and I,” he tells her not noticing her flinch. “The first, I believe, of our kind.”

 

“Wh- what do you want me for?” she asks swallowing down the sudden urge to cry. Why is everyone reminding her just how much she’s changed?

 

“We tried to survive when we found ourselves stranded in this ignorant age. First we tried growing new Dalek embryos, but their flesh was weak.” He bows his head as if he was saddened by this. “It forced us to conclude what is the greatest resource of this planet. Its people.” He throws a breaker switch lighting up the whole place. Rose looks to see hundreds of covered bodies on stretchers floating above them. Dalek Sec brings one down from the ceiling.

 

“We stole them. We stole human beings for our purpose. Look inside,” he urges her.

 

Rose hesitantly grabs the sheet and uncovers a man’s face. She barely stops herself from flinching back.

 

“This is the Final Experiment,” Dalek Sec tells her. It’s almost as if he wants her approval.

 

“Is he dead?”

 

“Near death, with his mind wiped, ready to be filled with new ideas.”

 

“Your ideas?” she asks him.

 

“The Human Dalek race,” he tells her. She looks at all the white sheets she can see and tries not to cry.

 

“All of these people… How many?”

 

“We have caverns beyond this, storing more than a thousand,” he tells her. Rose emits a quiet whimper. All those people with family missing them.

 

“An’ is there any way to bring them back? Make them- make them human again?”

 

“Everything they were has been lost,” he tells her gently.

 

“So how’re you planning on fillin’ ‘em up?” she asks him angrily. These people’s deaths were pointless.

 

“Open the conductor plan,” he commands.

 

\--

 

“What’s going on?” Tallulah asks as she follows Martha through the chaos of Hooverville.

 

“Down in the sewers, the Daleks mentioned this energy conductor,” Martha says mostly to herself as she looks over the people.

 

“What does that mean?”

  
“I don’t know. Maybe like a lightning conductor or- Dalekanium!” Martha comes to a stop making Tallulah almost run into her.

 

“Oh?”

 

“They said the Dalekanium was in place,” Martha thinks aloud.

 

“In place where?”

 

“Dunno, that’s why we need Frank.” Martha starts off again skirting around a pile of bodies before spotting him sitting in front of a fire looking into it without really seeing it. “Frank!”

 

“Hmm?” he asks not looking up from the fire.

 

“That Mr. Diagoras, he was like some sort of fixer or manager, yeah? Get you jobs all over town?”

 

“Yeah,” he says slowly as he comes out of his grief. “He could find a profit anywhere.”

 

“But where, though? What sort of things?”

 

“You name it. We’re all so desperate for work, you just hoped Diagoras would pick you for something good. Building work, that pays the best.” He rubs his brow, forehead pinched as he frowns.

 

“But what sort of building work?” Martha asks again.

 

“Mainly building that,” he tells her hooking a thumb over his shoulder to where the Empire State Building stood.


	6. She Blinded Them With Science...Er, Hopefully

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, guys, y'all, I am sooooo behind in my writing but I am trying to get there. I won't abandon this, I promise!

The Empire State Building was shown on the holo-vid and Rose sighed in relief. She hadn’t let Martha down the wrong track.

 

“So, you’ve hijacked the whole building?” she asks.

 

“We needed an energy conductor,” Dalek Sec states simply like that should explain things. 

 

“What for?”

 

“I am the genetic template. My altered DNA was to be administered to each human body. A strong enough blast of gamma radiation can splice the Dalek and human genetic codes, and waken each body from its sleep.” This was so far over Rose’s head. Was that even English?

 

“Gamma radiation?” she asks him. That sounded dangerous.

 

“Soon the greatest solar flare for a thousand years will hit the Earth. Gamma radiation will be drawn to the energy conductor and when it strikes-”

 

“Your army will waken,” Rose finishes for him a ball of dread forming in the pit of her stomach. “But what do you need me for?”

 

“Your genius,” he tells her.  _ My  _ **_what_ ** _? _ , Rose thinks blinking in surprise. “Consider a pure Dalek, intelligent but emotionless.”

 

“I thought removing your emotions made you stronger?” Rose says slowly still caught on her being called a genius by a Dalek. That was certainly new.

 

“That was wrong.”

 

“That was  _ what _ ?”

 

“It makes us lesser than our enemies,” he explains.”We must return to the flesh, and also the heart.”

 

“But you wouldn’t be Daleks anymore,” Rose points out.

 

“And that is good,” Dalek Sec tells her.

 

“That is incorrect,” A Dalek corrects him.

 

“Daleks are supreme,” another Dalek belts out.

 

“No, not anymore,” Dalek Sec says to them.

 

“But that is our purpose,” the second Dalek says confusedly.

 

“Then our purpose is wrong. Where has our quest for supremacy led us? To this, Hiding in the sewers on a primitive world, just four of us left. If we do not change now, then we deserve extinction.”

 

“So, you want to change what makes a Dalek a Dalek?” Rose asks to clarify.

 

“If you can help me,” Dalek Sec says to her.

 

\--

 

“I always wanted to go to the Empire State,” Martha says as her, Frank, and Tallulah wait for the lift. “Never imagined it quite like this, though.”

 

“Where are we headed anyway?” Frank asks looking a little green around the gills.

 

“The top, where they’re still building,” Martha tells him noticing how he swallows and pats him gently on the arm.

 

“How come those guys just let us through? How’s that thing work?” Tallulah asks.

 

“Psychic paper,” Martha explains. “Shows them whatever I want them to think. According to this, we’re two engineers and an architect.”

 

\--

 

“You have travelled with the Doctor, who’s knowledge of genetic engineering is even greater than ours. The new race must be ready by the time the solar flare erupts.” Rose’s eyes widen at that. They wanted her to do science stuff?

 

“But I thought you were the template.”

 

“I want to change the gene sequence,” he tells her.

 

“To do what? Make ‘em more human?”

 

“Humans are the great survivors. We need that ability,” he explains and Rose gulps audibly. Bluffing the Sycorax was one thing, that was just words, but this was a whole ‘nother beast altogether.

 

“An’ this lot’s gonna let you do that?” She asks wondering what a ‘pure’ Dalek thought of Dalek Sec’s words.

 

“I am their leader,” he says simply.

 

“Oh, an’ tha’s enough for ya, is it?”

 

“Daleks must follow orders,” one Dalek belts out.

 

“Dalek Sec commands, we obey,” the other says.

 

“If you don’t help me, nothing will change,” Dalek Sec pleads and Rose wishes she could help them.

 

“So you’re jus’ gonna blend in to the rest of the humans?” she asks wondering what his plan was for that.

 

“You have your TARDIS, take us across the stars. Find us a new home and allow the new Daleks to start again.” That could work, especially since she already did it with the Racnoss. But, she still didn’t know anything about genes other than that she had them.

 

“When’s the solar flare?” she asks hoping that it was far off.

 

“Eleven minutes,” he tells her and she curses in Twelti. Not as far off as she wanted.

 

“Right then,” she says staring at the table before her. “Better get to work.”

 

\--

 

“Look at this place,” Tallulah says in awe. “Top of the world.” They had just gotten out of the lift to see the office was missing one side of its walls.

 

“Okay, now this looks good,” Martha says as she goes over to the drawing board to see the blueprints on it.

 

“Hey, look at the date. These designs were issued today. They must’ve changed something last minute,” Frank points out looking at the bottom of the blueprint.

 

“You mean the Daleks changed something?” Martha asks as she flicks up a corner of the blueprint to peek at the one below it.

 

“Yeah, could be,” Frank tells her.

 

“The ones underneath, they’re from before. That means that whatever changed must be on this top sheet but not on this one. We need to check one against the other,” Martha says moving the blueprints to two of them could show at the same time.

 

“The height of this place!” Tallulah gawks. “This is amazing.”

 

“Careful,” Martha warns her. “We’re a hundred floors up. Don’t go wandering off.”

 

“I just wanted to see,” Tallulah pouts before peeking her head out again. “New York City. If aliens had to come to Earth, oh, no wonder they came here.”


	7. It's The Final Countdown!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Duh nuh na! Duh nuh nuh nuh nuh! Duh nuh na! *other band noises*

Rose rubs her forehead to think of something quick. “So, we’ll need to redo the formula from the start,” she says shakily.

 

“We’ll need more chromatin solution,” Dalek Sec says.

 

“The pig slaves have it,” one of the other Daleks says as the pigmen come in carrying a large crate. Rose spots Laszlo among them.

 

“What happens to them,” Rose bobs her head at the pigmen, “in the grand plan?”

 

“Nothing,” Dalek Sec says dismissively. “They’re just simple beasts. Their lifespan is limited. None survived beyond a few weeks. Power up the line feeds.” Rose catches Laszlo’s eyes and sees understanding there. He knew. Her heart broke for both him and Tallulah.

 

\--

 

“I’ll go and keep an eye out,” Frank says as he stands. “Make sure we’re safe up here. Don’t want nobody butting in.”

 

“There’s a hell of a storm moving in,” Tallulah says as she comes in from the scaffold outside.

 

“I wish Rose were here,” Martha groans rubbing her eyes. They were starting to cross from all the staring she was doing. “She’d know what we’re looking for.”

 

“So, tell me, where did you and her first hook up?” Tallulah asks as she settles down next to Martha on the floor.

 

“It was in a hospital, sort of,” Martha tells her.

 

“Ah. What were ya in for?”

 

“Actually, I’m a doctor. Well, kind of,” Martha corrects.

 

“You’re a physician? Really?”

 

“I was in training. Still am, if I ever get back home.” She sighs wistfully before getting back to the task at hand.

 

“Oh. Listen, sweetheart. You want to get all sad? You want to have a contest with me and Laszlo?” Tallulah asks only half joking.

 

“No,” Martha tells her with a sad smile. “But listen, if Rose is with Laszlo now, there’s every chance she could get him out.”

 

“And then what? Don’t talk crazy. There’s no future for me and him. Those Dalek things took that away. The one good thing I had in my life and they destroyed it.”

 

\--

 

“The line feeds are ready,” a Dalek stated and Rose was really glad that they were big on labeling things.

 

“We good?” she asks Dalek Sec.

 

“The solar flare is imminent. The radiation will reach Earth in a matter of minutes,” he tells her and Rose hopes that she didn’t mess anything up.

 

“We’ll be ready for it,” she says muttering a, “Hopefully,” under her breath. She shakily fills a large syringe with the new solution she helped create.

 

“Power up!” Dalek Sec commands when she’s done. A pigman and Laszlo throw the breakers. “Start the line feeds.” Rose watches the blue liquid creep up the plastic tubes to where the bodies lay, holding her breath and waiting for something to go wrong.

 

\--

 

“Gotcha!” Martha shouts as she draws the two blueprints together. “Look, there on the mast. Those little lines? They’re new. They’ve added something, see?” she asks moving over so Tallulah could have a look for herself.

 

“Added what?” Tallulah asks as she looks at where Martha pointed out the differences. They both think it over for a moment before looking at each other.

 

“Dalekanium!” they both shout getting to their feet, drawing up the blueprints with them.

 

\--

 

A klaxon sounds not seconds after the line feed becomes active.

  
“What’s that?” Rose asks wondering if it was because of her.

 

“What’s happening? Is there a malfunction?” Dalek Sec asks. “Answer me!” Rose spots a Dalek at the controls, its plunger changing something.

 

“They’re overriding the feed line,” Rose says fear in her throat.

 

“Impossible. They cannot disobey orders,” Dalek Sec dismisses.

 

“The Abomination will step away from the chemicals,” A Dalek orders and Rose holds her hands up as she sees its firing port twitch.

 

“Stop! You will not fire!” Dalek Sec commands.

 

“It is an enemy of the Daleks,” the Dalek at the controls says.

 

“And so are you,” the one holding Rose at laser point states before moving its firing port towards Dalek Sec.

 

“I am your commander! I am Dalek Sec!”

 

“You have lost your authority,” a Dalek states.

 

“You are no longer a Dalek.”

 

“What have you done to the feed line?” Rose asks as she sees the blue liquid move backwards in the tubes.

 

“The new bodies will be one hundred percent Dalek.”

 

“No. You can’t do this!” Dalek Sec shouts.

 

“Pig slaves, restrain Dalek Sec and the Abomination.” Rose doesn’t protest as Laszlo grabs onto her arms, another pigman coming up to restrain Dalek Sec.

 

“Release me! I created you! I am your master!” Dalek Sec commands struggling against the pigman’s hold. An alarm sounds in the air and Rose can see the numbers ticking down on the lift to the left of her.

 

“Solar flare approaching,” A Dalek reports.

 

“Prepare to intercept.”

 

“There’s the elevator,” Laszlo whispers in her ear and she nods stumbling after him as he drags her towards the doors. She fumbles for her sonic screwdriver, urging the lift to come faster, barely stopping in time to miss ramming into the back of the lift wall.

 

“The Abomination is escaping! Stop it! Stop it!” The lift doors close in the faces of the pigmen. Rose lets out a soft chuckle leaning on the lift wall as she catches her breath.

 

“We’ve only got a couple of minutes before the solar flare,” she says panting. She points the screwdriver at the lift button panel to move them to the top floor. Laszlo slumps against her and she sees him shivering and sweating. “Laszlo? What’s wrong?”

 

“Out of breath,” he pants. “It’s nothing. We’ve escaped them, Rose. That’s all that matters.” He pushes himself up to lean heavily on the lift wall beside him and Rose bites her lip looking at him in worry.

 

\--

 

“You have betrayed me,” Dalek Sec says on his knees before the Cult of Skaro.

 

“You told us to imagine,” Dalek Thay says to him.

 

“And we imagined your irrelevance.”

 

“I was your leader! I am Dalek Sec. Obey me!”

 

\--

 

Martha looks over as the lift dings, the doors opening to reveal Rose and Laszlo.

 

“Rose!” Martha shouts in relief. Rose gives her a tired grin going over to hug her.

 

“I never thought I’d see you again,” Tallulah says with tears in her eyes as Laszlo stumbles out of the lift.

 

“No stopping me,” Laszlo tells her smiling at her. Tallulah pulls him into a bone crushing hug.

 

“We’ve worked it out,” Martha tells Rose pulling back to show her the blueprints. “We know what they’ve done. There’s Dalekanium on the mast. And it’s good to see you too, by the way.”

 

“I’m sorry, Martha. Truly. I- Well, I just-”

 

“It’s okay,” Martha interrupts seeing the regret in Rose’s eyes. The lift doors shut and Rose curses. She walks over to the lift pointing her screwdriver at the control panel, but Martha doesn’t think it works because Rose cusses again.

 

“Deadlock seal,” she says running a hand through her hair.

 

“Where’s it going?” Martha asks her.

 

“To the Daleks, probably.” Rose mutters something to herself before rubbing a hand down her face and sighing. “What’s the time?”

 

“Er, eleven fifteen,” Frank says from the stairway door.

 

“That gives us about… six minutes?” Rose squints as she thinks about it. “I’ll go up and take off the Dalekanium before the solar flare.”

 

“Solar flare? What solar flare?” Tallulah asks, the group trailing after Rose to the opening in the wall.

 

“Oh, tha’s high. Blimey, tha’s very high,” Rose says to herself as she looks down.

 

“And we’ve got to go even higher. That’s the mast up there, look. There’s three pieces of Dalekanium on the base. We’ve for to get them off,” Martha says gesturing to the blueprints. Rose peeks up to where Martha showed her on the paper and grimaces.

 

“No, just me,” Rose tells her as she looks at a panting Laszlo. “You get Laszlo and Tallulah to the TARDIS, see if anything in the medbay will help him.” Martha looks like she wants to argue, but then Tallulah cries out as Laszlo stumbles against her and her medical training kicks in.

 

“Be careful,” Martha tells her squeezing Rose’s hand. Rose squeezes right back, nodding before turning to climb up the scaffold.

 

“I’ll try to hold them off for you,” Frank calls up as Martha and Tallulah lead Laslo down the stairs.

 

\--

 

Dalek Sec is chained to the wall watching as his former Daleks get ready for the Final Experiment.

 

“Confirm time until solar intercept,” Dalek Thay asks.

 

“Gamma strike four minutes and counting,” the other Dalek tells him.

 

“Pig slaves will take the elevator. Find the Abomination. Kill it.”

 

\--

 

Frank watches as the elevator slowly makes its way to the top floor. He wishes he wasn’t alone, that he brought his gun with him, that Solomon wasn’t dead, that these Dalek things had never come to New York. He wishes a lot of things, but as thunder sounds in the distance, he wishes he had more hands to help him with his plan.

 

With a quick prayer to a god he no longer believed in, Frank got to work using the extra scaffolding pipes to connect to the elevator.

 

\--

 

“Gamma strike imminent. In forty rels. Thirty nine, thirty eight, thirty seven,” A Dalek counts down preparing for the Final Experiment.

 

\--

 

Martha and Tallulah set Laszlo down in a seat as the ferry takes off for the Statue of Liberty. Martha hopes that the TARDIS has what she needs to help Laszlo. Tallulah dabs at the sweat on his forehead and Martha monitors his pulse silently urging the ferry to get there faster.

 

\--

 

Rose curses as she drops the screwdriver, looking down to where it fell. She doesn’t have much time left.

 

\--

 

Frank carefully makes his way to the centre of the room, cautious of touching any metal. He waits for the elevator to open.

 

\--

 

“Twelve, eleven, ten…,” A Dalek counts down standing by.

 

\--

 

Rose barely makes it back to the spot where the last Dalekanium is, almost slipping from the rain slick.

 

\--

 

Frank takes in a deep breath as the elevator arrives to the floor where he is.

 

\--

 

“Zero. Gamma strike!”


	8. But Does The Plot Twist Enough?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So after this chapter, there will be no more updates for awhile. Sorry guys, but I need to write the rest of this out ( or at least more of this out ) before I start to get ahead of myself. Don't worry though, I foresee a Doctor Short soon in the future!

Rose cries out as lightning hits the top of the mast, electricity coursing through her.

 

\--

 

Frank watches in fascinated horror as the pigmen walk out the elevator only to be struck by the electricity coming down from the top of the mast.

 

\--

 

“The army awakes,” Dalek Thay states in glee as the stretchers are lowered from the ceiling and the now Daleks push their shrouds aside to stand.

 

“You will identify,” Dalek Thay commands as the Dalek army lines up in front of it.

 

“I am Dalek,” one of them says.

 

“Excellent.”

 

“Begin the invasion of Manhattan. The population will be converted to Daleks.”

 

“And from this island we will conquer the world,” Dalek Thay continues, plunger and firing port twitching in anticipation.

 

“Assume battle positions. Take arms.” The now Daleks turn left to march in sync to take a Dalek weapon from a nearby rack.

 

\--

 

Rose sits up smacking her lips suddenly very parched. She gingerly touches her hair only to feel it puffed up and cracks a smile.

 

“Blimey,” she mutters to herself before slowly standing. The world shifts for a second before correcting and Rose looks down to see the still in place Dalekanium unit. She unsticks it and moves it to where the other two panels sit, wondering how she’s going to get them down from here.

 

It’s then that she remembers being struck and wonders how on Earth she survived? She checks herself over, her back aching something fierce, but it was her left foot that really screamed for her attention.

 

She looks down to see a smoking trainer and slowly lifts it to see a burnt hole steaming in the middle of the sole. She sinks to her knees, hands clutching her screwdriver even as her knuckles dig in to the cement.

 

“I’ll jus’ take a quick kip,” she staggers out before collapsing again.

 

\--

 

Martha opens the TARDIS and quickly shoves a protesting Tallulah and Laszlo into the console room before closing the door.

 

“I’m just saying how’s a box gonna... help... any?” Tallulah asks, her voice petering out as she turns to take in the whole room.

 

“Come on, Tallulah. We need to get Laszlo to the medbay,” Martha pants as she struggles to hold him up on her own. Tallulah hops to it, her heels sticking a little in the grates as they walk towards the back of the console room.

 

“You mean there’s more?”

 

\--

 

“War demands strategy. I am designated controller,” Dalek Thay states.

 

“That was to be  _ my _ position!” Dalek Sec says angrily, pulling on his chains.

 

“You are unfit,” The two Daleks say in unison.

 

“Connect me to the military computer. I will coordinate all units.” The pigmen comply with the order and hook Dalek Thay to the computer, the wires holding him in the middle of a platform.

 

“Report status,” a Dalek demands.

 

“Maximum efficiency. I am now ready for full scale war,” Dalek Thay reports.

 

“Control over Dalek humans?”

 

“Connection confirmed. All soldiers will take heed. All weapons will be primed.” The Dalek humans stop their marching, locking and loading their guns.

 

\--

 

Rose silently makes her way through the sewers trying to remember the right way to the Daleks’ laboratory. She’s leaning heavily on the filthy walls and she’s limping a little, but she’s gotta stop them. She’s gotta stop them.

 

\--

 

“Sonic device detected!” A Dalek shouts.

 

“The Abomination survived?” Dalek Thay asks.

 

“Find it and exterminate!”

 

“No need, I’m right here,” Rose says coming around the corner, sonic screwdriver held out in front of her like a gun. It hurts to move and it hurts to stay still, but she won’t show them any weaknesses.

 

“Advance. Advance!” A Dalek commands and the human Daleks surround Rose. Dalek Sec pulls against his chains from the corner.

 

“You will die, Abomination. It is the beginning of a new age,” Dalek Thay taunts.

 

“Planet Earth will become New Skaro,” another Dalek tells her proudly.

 

“Is that so?” Rose asks them. “With anything just the slightest bit different exterminated?”

 

“My Daleks,” Dalek Sec tries, standing up and pulling against his chains. “Just understand this: if you choose death and destruction, then death and destruction will choose you.”

 

“Incorrect,” Dalek Thay negates. “We will always survive.”

 

“Now we will destroy one of our greatest enemies, the Abomination.”

 

“But she can help you,” Dalek Sec pleads.

 

“The Abomination must die.”

 

“No, I beg you, don’t!”

 

“Exterminate!” 

 

Dalek Sec slips from his chains and stands in front of the Dalek, the laser killing him instead of Rose.

 

“No!” Rose shouts but doesn’t move from her position. She looks to where Dalek Sec lay dead and wonders if the Doctor could somehow have prevented this. “He was your leader! What happens if you feel like these,” she gestures to the human Daleks, “aren’t Dalek enough for you? You gonna kill ‘em, too?”

 

“Warning, Dalek humans show increased levels of serotonin,” Dalek Thay warns from where he’s shaking in front of the computer.

 

“No, tell me, I’d like to know,” Rose tells one of the Daleks.

 

“Dalek humans, take aim,” it says instead of answering her. The group surrounding her cock their guns.

 

“Exterminate!”  _ I’m sorry, Martha _ , Rose thinks as she squeezes her eyes shut, only to open them up a few seconds later as nothing happens.

 

“Obey. Dalek humans will obey,” the Dalek commands.

 

“Wha?” Rose asks confused. She sways a little as her head pounds, like someone drumming the same droning beat over and over again.

 

“You will obey! Exterminate!”

 

“Why?” one of them asks their brow pinched into a frown.

 

“Daleks do not question orders,” Dalek Thay shouts at them.

 

“But… why?”

 

“You must not question,” Dalek Thay tries again.

 

“But you are not our master. And we, we are not Daleks.”

 

“You’re not, are you?” Rose asks wondering if they were like Dalek Sec, that maybe their humanity was shining through.

 

“If you will not obey, then you must die,” Dalek Thay says before killing the one who spoke out.

 

“No!” Rose shouts out before ducking as the Dalek takes aim again.

 

“Exterminate! Exterminate!” The Daleks shout as both them and the Dalek humans fire at each other.

 

“Destroy the hybrids. Destroy!” Dalek Thay shouts.

 

“Exterminate!” Dalek Caan says before getting blown up.

 

“Extermin-” Another Dalek gets blown up and the Dalek humans turn to point their weapons ant Dalek Thay.

 

“The Dalek humans are failures. Destruct! Destruct! Destruct!” it shouts. A high-pitched sound fills the air and the Dalek humans drop their guns to clutch at their heads, falling to their knees in pain.

 

“No! Stop!” Rose shouts as she looks at the death around her. She points her screwdriver at the table of chemicals urging for it to heat up faster than last time. “You didn’t have to do that!”

 

“The Final Experiment was defective. They no longer had use,” Dalek Thay explains to her and Rose glares at it.

 

“An’ look at you. All alone. What’re you gonna do now?” She asks a small smirk on her face.

 

“Emergency Temporal Shift,” it says before disappearing. Rose curse ducking out of the lab just as it blows up for the second time. She stumbles through the tunnels coughing as dust shakes loose from the ceiling as the blast rumbles through the whole underground.

 

\--

 

Rose is brushing even more dust from her jacket as she steps off the ferry and goes over to where the TARDIS is parked. People are looking at her weird and it isn’t just because of her hair, she reckons, but she’s used to the stares.

 

“Rose!” Martha shouts and rushes to pull Rose into a fierce hug, one that Rose reciprocates.

 

“Martha, you’re okay!”

 

“ _ I’m _ okay? What about you? And your  _ hair _ !” Martha says holding Rose at arms length to take her in. She takes in Rose’s grimace and concludes that what happened was bad. “The Daleks?”

 

“Gone. Buried under rubble,” Rose tells her as they walk into the TARDIS. “Laszlo?”

 

“He’s doing better. I couldn’t really do much to change his face, but I at least got rid of his sharp teeth and his nose is less pronounced. I took them back to Hooverville and Frank has taken them in.”

 

“Tha’s good,” Rose says tiredly as she sinks into the jump seat. Martha slumps down right next to her.

 

“I just hope I didn’t look that slack jawed my first time,” Martha says with a small chuckle.

 

“You did,” Rose says laughing when Martha nudges her with her elbow.

 

“Oh, like your first time seeing this was any different,” Martha says with a roll of her eyes.

 

“It was, yeah.”

 

“Oh, yeah?” Martha challenges.

 

“Guessed it was alien right off the bat,” Rose tells her with a twinkle in her eye. Martha is glad she could put it there.

 

“Yeah right,” Martha argues just to see if she could get Rose to smile again.

 

“It’s true!” Rose says getting up and pointing at her. “An’ I didn’t even do the whole turnaround thing!” She bobs her head to the side as she thinks it over. “Well, tha’s mostly ‘cos of my headless boyfriend running after us, but still!”

 

“What?” Martha asks stopping her laughter. “Your what  _ what _ ?”

 

“I’ll tell you later,” Rose says dismissively wiping off more dust before holding her hand out to Martha. “Right now, though, I believe I owe you some chips.”

 

It was easier to go back to smiling and laughing than in the beginning and Martha was a big help in getting her that way. The woman was kind and nurturing and chased after adventure. She saw it in the hospital on the moon, when they met Shakespeare, and even when she was kidnapped. Martha was just the kick in the pants she needed to feel alive again.

 

It still hurt sometimes, when she looked over expecting to see the Doctor right next to her only to see thin air. It hurt to look at her mobile thinking she should call her mum to see what was happening in the world of Jackie Tyler only to remember that she wouldn’t ever hear her mum’s voice again. She still broke down and cried her heart out, but with Martha here, it happened less and less.

 

It wasn’t like she was moving on, it was more like she was coping. She believed that the Doctor would find a way back to her, she knew her mum would nag him and nag him until he found a way. It was just that she realised her life couldn’t wait for him to catch up to her. She couldn’t just stay still until she saw him again, her life had to keep happening, it had to keep spinning.

 

She smiled as Martha took her hand and leads her to the TARDIS door.

 

“Shouldn’t you fix your hair first?” Martha asks her as they exit.

 

“Nah, this is the fashion nowadays,” Rose jokes.

 

\--

 

“This whole adventure has cured me of my New York fever,” Martha tells Rose as they walk down the sidewalk. Rose tries to hide her smile but fails, patting Martha sympathetically on the arm.

 

“At least there were no cat nuns this time,” Rose says with a shiver.

 

“It’s not a competition, Rose,” Martha mock scolds and Rose sticks her tongue out at her.

 

“Okay, okay,” she says a minute later. “I’m sorry. For everything.” Rose turns to face Martha hoping that the other will understand.

 

“About the kidnapping or about the dying thing?”

 

“Both,” Rose says looking down at her feet. “I’m sorry I got you kidnapped in the first place, and I’m sorry I told them to kill me.”

 

“Well, it’s not like you held the fake gun to my head,” Martha shrugs off. “And, the way I see it, you just wanted the killing to stop, it’s understandable.”

 

“Still,” Rose presses looking up into Martha’s eyes and Martha realises something right then and there. Rose was scared. Hell, she was terrified. Martha can see how guilty Rose feels for almost leaving Martha on her own, for almost being left on her own again.

 

“I forgive you,” Martha tells her sincerely. Rose smiles sadly, hugging her for a quick second before pulling them both up to the queue.

 

“What can I get you?” the man asks boredly from behind the cart. He didn’t even look at Rose’s hair in surprise.

 

“Two orders of chips, please,” Rose asks nicely only for the man to giver her a confused look.

 

“Look, doll, we don’t sell chips. I got fries and I got hot dogs,” the man point out.

 

“She meant the fries,” Martha interrupts. “We call ‘em chips where we’re from.”

 

“Whatever,” he says with a sigh, scooping the chips into rolled up newspaper cones and handing them over. “That’ll be two fifty.” Rose doles out the cash telling him to keep the change.

 

“You got any vinegar?”

 

“What?”

 

“Vinegar? For the chips,” Rose asks holding up her newspaper cone.

 

“Why in god’s name would anyone put vinegar on fries?” the man asks and Martha nods in agreement.

 

“Yeah,” she says. “Why would you ruin chips with vinegar? You eat them plain.”

 

“No,” the man says. “You eat ‘em with ketchup.” He points to the ketchup and both women scrunch up their noses.

 

“No thanks,” Rose says.   
  
“Then get a move on, I’ve got others waiting behind you.”

 

They both leave giggling at the man’s face. Rose digs in her jacket pocket and pulls out a thing of vinegar and Martha chokes on her spit.

 

“Why’d you even ask?”

 

“I wanted to see his face,” Rose says as she pours half the bottle on her chips. “Plus, I didn’t want to dip into my own stash. You know how many chippy’s that don’t stock vinegar?” Rose shakes her head as she licks a finger.

 

“You’re so weird,” Martha says fondly with a smile on her face. She takes a bite out a chip and breaths out of her mouth because of the temperature.

 

“You are, too,” Rose tells her bumping her shoulder into Martha’s. “Us two being crazy broads.” Martha laughs and Rose soon joins in. Despite her never wanting to even hear the words New York again, Martha is glad that they came here. She’s glad that she came with Rose.

 

\--

 

Down in the sewers, underneath the rubble, amidst the glass shards and chemical puddles, a hand twitches.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lady_Inari, would this make the Doctor flabbergasted as well?

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooo..... i've been watching 12 in order to prepare for the 13th Doctor, and I gotta say, he's really good once you slap some subtitles on him.


End file.
